Words, language, editing

The year in typos (or should we say “typo’s”)

Originally posted on Grammar Monkeys on Dec. 31, 2011.

I’ve been taking pictures all year of errors I’ve spotted “in the wild” — on signs, in stores and other places out and about. Most were the “grocer’s apostrophe” — using an apostrophe to make a plural. But there were a few other types, and a couple of two-fers to boot. Enjoy.

The “warning” “sign”

Underlining and bold face exist for emphasis. Quotation marks serve their own purpose. But that doesn’t stop people from mixing them.

Bad math

If something costs a quarter, it costs 25 cents or 25/100 of a dollar, $0.25. If you have the “¢,” you don’t need the decimal point, or vice versa, since technically, “.25 ¢” means you get four for a penny.

The simple typo

Apparently “caramel” is a tricky word, and in some universe, “mangnets” cost a hundred dollars (missing punctuation piles on to a typo)

When spell-check won’t help

It’s not a misspelling since the other word is a real word. But it’s not the right word. (Bonus points for the person who corrected the coffee machine sign)

Please, no more apostrophe’s!

This error is rampant, getting worse, and may be unstoppable. That does not prevent it from assailing the eyes. (And it seems that “magnet” is a tricky word as well.)

What?

And this last one doesn’t even count as a grocer’s apostrophe, since it’s in a verb, for goodness’ sake. What will they come up with next? (That’s not a challenge.)